And your father has mocked me, and has changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
Jacob stands in the fields with Rachel and Leah, telling them why the family must leave Haran: his father-in-law kept changing the deal, and God kept stopping the damage. If God was protecting him, why did he have to endure twenty years of it?
The complaint is about a contract that never stayed still.
Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times. When he saw that Jacob was doing very well out of one bargain, he would change the terms of his wages. Then the sheep would breed in a different way, and again it worked to Jacob's advantage.
Jacob repeats this charge later, to Laban's face. Laban never denies it, and that silence counts as proof.
He states that Laban had changed his wages ten times (v. 41). This must have been true, or Laban would have denied it. It does show the manipulating character of Laban. He was every bit as skilled at this trickery as Jacob.
Jacob had tricked his brother. What came back to him had the same shape.
Jacob had tricked his brother, and Laban treated him in the same way. Laban gave him Leah as his wife instead of Rachel, though he had Rachel, the one he loved, later on. He had not learned to trust God. He used clever tricks to increase what he owned, and he received the same treatment in return: his wages changed "ten times." But God was watching over him, and told him to return to the land of his fathers.
Knowing he was under that correcting hand changed how Jacob lived in Laban's house.
While he was living in the Syrian's house, Jacob knew that he was under the mighty hand of God for correction, and he behaved that way. He did not defend himself when he was blamed. He did not fight for his rights when he was wronged and treated unfairly.
The second half of the verse is the point of the whole speech. Laban held all the power and still could not make Jacob lose. When the repayment came, it came fast.
In about five or six years God's providence paid Jacob the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years… He could truly say that if Laban showed him ill will, the God of his father was with him. And if Laban tried to cheat him, God did not let him come to harm.
This reversal is described as an act of justice, not merely a lucky turn in the livestock market.
Laban's greedy wish to profit from Jacob's strange bargain made the self-absorbed master poor instead, while the servant he had long cheated grew richer and richer… It was a righteous thing, as far as it could go, to pay back the wrongdoer and repay the one who had suffered… Notice too how fitting such a dealing from God was toward the one patriarch who pictures the chosen people more than any other. They took their name from him. Their ups and downs were like his own — endless changes of fortune, failures and humiliations, to be turned at the end, through God's mercy, into everlasting blessing.
Jacob's complaint tells only half the story. He had tricks of his own with Laban's flocks, and a dream from God took the credit for the growing herds away from those tricks.
By Jacob's own complaint, Laban changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by clever tricks with the breeding of Laban's cattle. Laban's sons complained that he had taken away everything that belonged to their father. So the contest went on until God stepped in again through a dream. God showed Jacob that it was He, and not Jacob's schemes, who had moved the cattle from Laban to him. And He called Jacob out of the whole unpleasant business, back to Canaan.
The grievance was real. It still settled nothing about Jacob's own conduct.
Jacob said that Laban had changed his wages ten times. If that was true, it was a serious provocation. But relying on God would have kept him from actions that are also open to question.
- Watched. Laban rewrote the deal ten times. Every time Jacob gained, the terms changed — and God saw each change.
- Warned. Jacob had tricked his brother; now Laban tricked him. The correction fitted the man, and Jacob took the wrongs without defending himself.
- Shielded. Laban held every advantage and still could not harm Jacob. God stood between them.
- Repaid. In about five years God gave back what twenty years of fraud had taken. The cheat grew poor; the cheated servant grew rich.
- Corrected. The provocation was real, but it did not excuse Jacob's own tricks. Trusting God would have brought the same result with clean hands.
If he said thus; The speckled shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore speckled; and if he said thus The ringstraked shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore ringstraked.
Here Jacob tells his wives, Rachel and Leah, about twenty years of work for their father, Laban. A pattern kept repeating. Whatever colour Laban named as Jacob's pay, the flocks bore that colour — so who was running this arrangement?
This was one round in a wage deal that kept changing. Jacob's own count of the changes shows what lay behind them.
Here we learn that Laban had changed Jacob's wages ten times. When he saw that Jacob was gaining greatly by one bargain, he would change the terms of his wages. Then the sheep would bear in another way to Jacob's advantage. So he says that God had taken Laban's flocks and given them to Jacob.
Jacob had been underpaid for twenty years. Notice how quickly God settled that debt.
Truly the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and full of loving-kindness… God in His providence paid Jacob in some five or six years the wages Laban had cheated him out of for twenty years… Jacob could truly say that if Laban showed ill-will, the God of his father was with him. And if Laban had sought to cheat him, God did not allow him to be hurt.
Jacob had his own tricks for shaping what the flocks bore. A dream later in this chapter points to a different cause.
Laban, according to Jacob's complaint, changed his wages ten times. Jacob got his own back by cunning tricks connected with the breeding of Laban's cattle… So the contest went on until God stepped in again through a dream. He made known to Jacob that it was He, not Jacob's schemes, that caused the cattle to pass from Laban to him. And He called him out of the whole unpleasant business back to Canaan.
God was the one at work. So Jacob's tricks were not only unneeded. They cost him the clear case he could have had.
We are now allowed to see how God had stepped in. He caused the agreement about the spotted and speckled cattle to work in Jacob's favour. This makes us reflect. If Jacob had rested with confidence in God, and not used the devices described in the last chapter, God would still have reached the end He purposed. And Jacob's "righteousness" would have answered for him in a much more convincing way.
Jacob's speech to his wives is honest about Laban and silent about himself.
He does not tell them about his own trickery. It seems he had been able to hide it from everyone except the Lord.
Jacob was the wronged party here. Yet one writer sees his years with Laban as a measured return of what Jacob had handed out to others.
He is now a stranger and a servant for hire. Laban cheats him and pushes his own gain — a relative of his, and in character close kin too. You cannot mistake the payback all the way through: the measure Jacob handed out to another comes back to him. But you also cannot miss that in the way it is dealt out, God is speaking to the heart and conscience of the wanderer. There is fairness in God's government, but also the chastening of a holy love.
This leaves a practical question. When may we fall back on plans of our own?
From all this we may draw a practical conclusion. We have no need nor right to fall back on plans of our own, as though we could help God to achieve His purpose. If, on the other hand, God instructs us by His word to act, it is our duty and our wisdom to do as He says. Jacob asserted that Laban had changed his wages ten times. If that was true, it was great provocation. But relying on God would have saved him from actions that were also open to question.
- Changed — Laban rewrote the deal every time Jacob gained by it. Jacob counted ten changes in twenty years.
- Reversed — Whatever colour Laban named, the flocks bore. God turned each new term into Jacob's gain, and paid in five or six years what Laban had withheld for twenty.
- Not the tricks — The dream later in the chapter names the cause: God, not Jacob's breeding schemes. His tricks were never needed.
- Half the story — Jacob tells his wives about Laban's cheating and says nothing about his own. He hid it from everyone except the Lord.
- Chastening — What Jacob had measured out to others came back to him through Laban. That is fairness in God's government, and also a holy love speaking to his conscience.